Sweden: Cards still count in a highly-digitised economy

10 / 12 / 2025

Sweden stands out as one of the world's most advanced digital economies, with remarkably low cash usage—only around ten percent of in-store payments involve physical currency. Despite this highly digital environment and the popularity of mobile payment solutions like the domestic Swish system (used by 86% of the population), card payments, particularly debit cards, continue to dominate the payment landscape and are experiencing robust growth.

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Payments Card issuing

couple completing a card purchase at home in their laptop

Key takeaways of the Swedish payment market:

Consistent Growth in Card Usage: Card payments are not slowing down; they have seen a double-digit increase, growing 12.3% year-on-year since 2019. The volume of debit card transactions alone has climbed by 14% over the past five years, reaching a total value of SEK 1370 billion in 2024.
Cards Outpace Mobile Wallets in Volume: While mobile payments are widespread and receive global attention, they are less frequent than card transactions. Swish account-to-account transactions, for instance, occur at only one-third the volume of debit card payments.
Wider Acceptance: Card acceptance is more prevalent among merchants, with over 80% of firms accepting cards, compared to 70% accepting mobile instant payments.
E-commerce Preference: Cards remain the primary method for online transactions, accounting for over half of all e-commerce payments, successfully maintaining their market share even with the surge in mobile commerce.
Strategic Direction for Banks: Financial institutions operating in Sweden are advised to keep card products at the center of their strategy for the next decade. They must focus on innovation in the card space and ensure these products are deeply integrated into mobile wallets and digital customer journeys to match the country's mobile-first consumer culture.
Industry Competition: Banks must also be aware of increasing competition from non-bank entities, such as online retailers and telecom companies, which are expected to process a growing share of global payment transactions.

Read the full article: https://www.paymentscardsandmobile.com/sweden-cards-still-count-in-a-highly-digitised-economy/

About Worldline Card Issuing

Worldline acts as a partner to help banks and fintechs maintain leadership by offering an end-to-end platform across the entire card value chain—from issuing and card management to processing and fraud protection. Worldline's issuing services cover prepaid, debit, credit, commercial, and virtual cards, alongside next-level fraud protection features like card tokenization, 3DS security, and full SCA compliance. Value-added services such as BNPL capabilities and a rich API catalogue, enabling rapid product deployment, are also part of the solution.

Mathieu Barthelemy

Product Portfolio Manager

Working in the digital services space since more than 15 years, Mathieu's journey at Worldline spans from software engineer to Mobile Banking Apps team lead, then PSD2/Open Banking product manager, and now head of the Authentication portfolio (Access Control Server, SCA, device imprint). Digital enthusiast and product-management advocate, Mathieu is driven to understand customer problems and deliver valuable solutions coping with clients challenges.